Miami-Dade mayor tells election advisory group county should have ?best electoral process in the nation?

Members of a group examining Miami-Dade elections peppered a county attorney and the elections supervisor with questions Wednesday morning as they began their review of state and local laws and practices, to eventually suggest improvements.

They were particularly interested in how Miami-Dade verifies voter signatures on absentee ballots, where the county can set up early-voting sites and how to speed up the voter check-in process at precincts on Election Day.

County Mayor Carlos Gimenez convened the election advisory group after the presidential election earlier this month was marked by long lines and a surge of absentee ballots that took several days to count. The group met for the first time Wednesday at the county elections headquarters in Doral.

Gimenez welcomed the 13 group members, who then listened to presentations by Elections Supervisor Penelope Townsley and the assistant county attorney in charge of elections, Oren Rosenthal.

Townsley, whose department runs about 20 elections a year, outlined absentee, early and Election Day voting preparations and procedures, showing off the department?s master computer file that keeps track of tasks and deadlines and a web video that explains to voters how their absentee ballots are tracked.

?We?re very proud of the policies and procedures that we have in place,? she said. ?However, we do realize that there?s opportunity for improvement.?

Townsley went over challenges that affected the Nov. 6 general election, including a 10-12 page ballot that required the department to issue emergency procurements so its vendors could outfit absentee-ballot machines to accommodate that many pages. The machines prepare ballots to be mailed and sort and open ballots received, though trained elections employees are in charge of verifying voter signatures.

Signature-verification software exists, but the department has not bought it because it has not found software it considers accurate enough, Townsley said.

The department also had to redesign absentee-ballot envelopes to fit the lengthy ballot.

Though Miami-Dade had enlisted 150 temporary workers to assist with ballot counting, Townsley said only 60 of them showed up to work. The others said the elections work was too short, or that they feared working would result in their becoming ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Another problem: The department was overwhelmed with voter calls about absentee ballots, receiving on average 2,000 calls a day and more than 7,500 on Election Day.

And for the first time this year, state law required counties to count absentee ballots continuously, beginning on Election Day and until the count was complete, requiring round-the-clock shifts for workers and the canvassing board that has the ultimate say on rejecting invalid voter signatures.

The elections department has not yet submitted its ?after-action report,? a post-mortem detailing how things went during the election.

Several of the questions raised by advisory group members would require changes to state law. For example, Florida limits early-voting sites to elections offices, city halls and permanent libraries ? though the county could spend more money to open more of those sites.

State law also requires counties to identify early-voting sites 30 days in advance, which essentially prohibits opening last-minute sites due to overwhelming voter interest.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/28/3116005/group-to-begin-reviewing-miami.html

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